Qld borders: Queensland may wait 5 weeks to open border to NSW

If you were holding on to hope that you may get in to the Sunshine State for the school holidays, NSW residents will be waiting a while.

Following the announcement that more NSW postcodes will be allowed into Queensland from October 1, Deputy Premier Steven Miles says the rest of the state could be forced to wait more than a month for entry.

On Tuesday, the Palaszczuk Government announced the Sunshine State will relax the hard line restrictions for some postcodes to cross the border.

The 41 postcodes that make up Byron, Ballina, Lismore, Richmond Valley and Glenn Innes shires will be welcome in Queensland from 1am on October 1, with Queensland residents allowed to “travel freely” to those regions.

Residents in other parts of NSW, however, will have to wait a good while yet with Mr Miles insisting that an assessment for the rest of the state will not be made until the end of October. That date will likely coincide with the Queensland state election.

“We will assess all the border restrictions toward the end of every month and that’s what we intended to do this month and will do next month,” he said.

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Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk has stood firm on the opening of the border. Picture: Alix Sweeney

Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles hinted that a border opening with the whole of NSW may not happen until November. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

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That timeline means NSW residents – excluding those who are part of the new bubble – will have to wait until November to cross the border, meaning they will miss out on a visit to the Sunshine State during the October school holidays.

“We will continue to monitor NSW and Victoria … and we’ll ease those restrictions as we can safely do so.”

Mr Miles said his state’s decision is based on the advice of Chief Medical Officer Dr Jeanette Young, and that his government needs to be “cautious”.

“What you’ve seen is a very cautious, but measured approach,” he said of the hard border and decision to open to certain postcodes.

“It does create a risk – there will be people from Sydney holidaying in Byron Bay at the same time people from Queensland are holidaying in Byron Bay.”

Earlier, the Deputy Premier said the Prime Minister’s withdrawal of the Australian Defence Force working alongside Queensland Police at check points was a disappointing political tactic that would make the police’s job “even harder”.

More NSW postcodes will be allowed into Queensland from early October. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Steve Holland

“There’s no secret that the Prime Minister doesn’t like our strong border protections, but they have kept us safe,” he said.

“We do welcome the fact that they have committed ADF support to our hotel quarantine effort, which will allow us to being back more Aussies currently stuck overseas.

“But this is extra work for our police. It will mean more shifts, more overtime, more police allocated to the task. Our police have done a fantastic job throughout this; I’d like to thank them for all of that.

“The ADF shouldn’t be used as a bargaining chip in what is an ongoing political attack from the federal government on the state government.

“Our policies have worked and they should back off.”

The closed border has been slammed by the Federal Government as having no medical backing, with the Prime Minister saying the most recent decision from the Queensland Government is “common sense” and “not before time”.

“I think that (border bubble extension) will just further assist getting people back into jobs and making sure that we live alongside the virus and not have the virus dictate how we live,” Mr Morrison told Sky News on Tuesday.